Opinion: Not the opposition, PM Modi was addressing Indian electorates

After all its efforts at trying to shout down Prime Minister Narendra Modi while he delivered his speech in Parliament a few hours ago, the Congress had nothing to show but a sore throat. The more its members ranted, the more Modi revelled in tearing its arguments to pieces. And if the Prime Minister, in the immediate analysis, appeared to be the winner, it is because the Congress just did not understand one basic fact: That Modi was not really addressing the Opposition but speaking to constituents across the country, who matter electorally.

The Prime Minister’s strategy was interesting. He was aggressive in the Lok Sabha where his party had the upper hand, taking swipes across a wide arc — from Congress’s dynasty to that party’s failures in governance to the various schemes that his Government had initiated for public welfare. But later in the Rajya Sabha, Modi reached out to his rivals, seeking constructive feedback on issues relating to national projects — for instance, on the new healthcare insurance scheme. By asking them to form their own task forces which could offer suggestions to the Government as well as identify loopholes, the Prime Minister lobbed the ball into the Opposition’s court. The idea was to send the message across to the larger audience outside Parliament that this Government was willing to listen and accommodate positive suggestions.

But it would have been unrealistic to expect Prime Minister Modi to altogether resist taking swipes at the Congress. In firmly proceeding with the ‘New India’ narrative which he, and his party and Government, have adopted in recent months, Modi latched on to the Congress’s remark that the party wanted not a new India but the old India which it had left behind. Having got an opportunity on a platter, the Prime Minister dug up a slew of distasteful developments — from the Bofors scam to the Augusta Westland scandal to the massacre of Sikhs in 1980 to the Emergency — and stingingly added that all that was part of the old India which the Congress has been advocating. But the sting was in the tail: The Prime Minister said he was fully in agreement with the Congress that we must have an India that Mahatma Gandhi wanted, and reminded his rivals that the Mahatma had wanted the Congress disbanded after the country had achieved independence.

Interestingly, unlike in the Lok Sabha, the Congress heard Modi’s speech with more attention in the other House, except during the later stage. There were few half-hearted attempts from the Opposition to disrupt the proceedings but nothing came from them. The Prime Minister listed various projects which were initiated but not followed through by the previous Congress regimes, and claimed that such languishing projects had been given a fresh lease of life by his Government. Given his penchant for catchy one-liners, he said that his Government’s focus is on the outcome and not just on (funds) outlay.

It must be understood that the Prime Minister’s response, which was on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s address to Parliament, was both a formality and an occasion for Modi to push forth his Government’s achievements and expose what he believed was the Opposition’s failures. Similarly, the opposition parties used the opportunity to put the Government in the dock. A senior Congress leader said Modi’s speech in the Lok Sabha was unbecoming of the occasion; that the response to the Motion of Thanks must have sobriety. There can be a debate on this contention, but it was also inappropriate for the Congress to heckle the Prime Minister throughout his address.

And yet, there is no doubting that both the Prime Minister and his rivals are jostling for electoral advantage. Three northeastern States vote later this year. But the more important election will be in Karnataka three months from now, and later in the year in three States the BJP presently rules — Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. If Modi has yet again spoken in favour of the anti-instant triple divorce Bill, the Congress has sought to dismiss the Government’s claims of achievement as empty talk. If the Prime Minister reminds the people of holistic and time-bound development projects that his Government has initiated, the Congress has emphasised that its regimes had begun most such projects.

It does appear from the repeated manner in which Modi raised the Bofors controversy in the Rajya Sabha, that the BJP and its allies could possibly revive the matter in electoral campaigns, and even more so when media reports have it that the Central Bureau of Investigation has decided to reopen the case after the court’s clearance.

The question now remains: To what extent will the Prime Minister’s address in Parliament help the BJP on the ground? The party won by a reduced margin in Gujarat, lost three recent by-polls in Rajasthan, and is facing serious rural discontent. The Union Budget with its emphasis on rural development sought to tackle the last mentioned problem. The Congress’s challenge is to effectively discredit the Prime Minister’s speech and build upon the momentum it has gained in recent months. Meanwhile, the battle lines are drawn and it would now be futile to expect the ruling dispensation and the Congress-led Opposition to see eye to eye on issues that are of national import.

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)